I regret to have to reported that the Lurgan based Journalist Martin O Hagan was murdered last night. Martin was a close friend of mine and indeed anyone involved with unlicensed radio in Northern Ireland. He reported on the rise and fall of stations from the mid 80's to date. He regularly featured articles on Megawatts Miles and LJ, some of them tongue in cheek eg aliens. He would regularly be sniffing for stories that would raise the issue. He reported on DTR/CoolFM's approach to radio and would have doorstepped people in the organisations that would not have liked other radio stations. I recall he reported that DTR/CoolFM 'persistently reported' the unlicensed stations to the relevant authorities. I have to say he always appeared to portray the image of radio in favour of the listener. He was secretary of the NUJ Belfast branch and was under death threat for breaking stories that didn't suit certain organisations.

He was involved in a book which was banned by the British Govt (remember they exclude what they don't like and thats not a political viewpoint...eg radio) called 'the committee' which reported the 'policies' which existed within the security services and collusion in Northern Ireland. Its worth reading this book if you can get it. he was taken to court by big organisations, eg Sunday Times AND WON.

He also reported on the drug barons within the paramilitary movements in NI.

Sounds familiar to...VERONICA GUERIN.

Martin will be a big loss to everyone and I PERSONALLY would like to offer my deepest sympathy to his family circle. Magic105 will acknowledge his murder in some way.

I have to say I am shocked at the News of Martin O Hagans death. Martin was a good friend of mine and we sat until the wee small hours many times talking about this that and the other. The world has lost a man who always believed in the truth. I have lost a dear friend. God bless you Martin until we meet again.

The murder of the Sunday World journalist, Martin O'Hagan, was despicable. Lest anyone attempts justification of such a cowardly and dastardly act, this was a full-frontal assault on freedom of speech, nothing less.

I am sick to death of so called political representatives in Northern Ireland who continue to defend the actions of scumbags who carry out such undemocratic acts.

Ambiguity still seems to be the order of the day. This sort of attitude gives credence to those engaged in murder and mayhem. So please, do not insult the memory of this man and his family with your crocodile tears.

Long live free speech and two fingers to the fascist bastards who murdered this fine journalist.

My sympathies and thoughts are with Martin's family, relatives and friends.

anyone who can shed any light on any of the rumours currently circulating in the north west area with reference to the disappearance of a few of the pirate stations in the area, and the involvement of a licensed station there in some dirty tricks against them? why has this station`s signal in the greysteel area begun to experience interference again, could it be that now that the ODTR has left the area, that illegal transmitters operated by this station have been powered up again causing a signal conflict, why are so many presenters and listeners deserting this operation?

Just heard that WABC are gearing up for a comeback, also on the legal thread North West Listener made reference to 106fm, anyone know when they are coming back? I know that they couldn't have given up, after all I believe that one of the reasons they were visited was because of an alleged incident which held no water, more likely the Licensed station that made the accusation realised how popular they were and had a wee panic attack, Good luck Wabc and come on 106, YOU`RE GOOD AND YOU KNOW YOU ARE.

Yeah What is happening in the pirate radio scene in the n,w. When is w.a.b.c coming back on,And to 106fm COME on guys Whats keeping you.Don,nt let Q102.9 RUIN your successful radio station. Going back to W.A.B.C I heard one of there d,js or main dj,s doing adverts on icr105fm the other day. And reillybros who are/is the radio station you are referring to as operating illegal transmitters, INTERESTING IS IT Q102.9FM....

Just arrived back in the province and am delighted to see that most of the stations have not been intimidated by the BULLY BOY tactics employed by the various groupings so intent on removing them, interesting to think that in the case of most of these stations, Highland Radio and Q102 made their voices heard in a secretive or underhand and downright spineless fashion, after all weren`t Frankie Mc Laughlin and Charlie Collins two of the biggest pirates that ever walked, and before anyone says that that was before the licenses came up and things have changed

It`s about time that it was recognised by the two radio boards that the pirates exist because of a lack of legal opportunities for well qualified presenters who are outside the legal click. Get off your asses, realise that a demand exists for the pirates and give them the chance to provide the service that their listeners crave. Stop operating in such a communist fashion, after all if correctly managed there is more than enough spectrum to go around. On a final note I sincerely hope that the posting from Patrick J is not intended in a disdainful fashion towards the pirates, lets hope that ICR are not going to adopt the forgetful snobbery displayed by Q102 and Highland radio in their attempts to rid the airwaves of anyone who provides any competition or threat to listenership.

Whoever it is they are on a very dodgy frequency 87.5 (contrary to popular belief) is NOT A BROADCAST FREQUENCY The West European FM band runs from 87.6 to 107.9 (The often quoted 87.5-108 includes guard bands to allow for sidebands/deviation)

Having spoken to Gary Cruze who emailed us a few weeks back, its open to everyone who want to come. All anoraks past and present are invited. Just to remind you its O bar1, Tallaght Plaza Hotel, on Monday 8th Oct from 9pm. Email Andy Preston if you wanna play on the night. (past Sunset jocks only)

Right so, I think it is about time someone stood up and said exactly what they think of Mr Frank Kennedy!!!!!

And as for running a radio station and having decent DJs, well... I think we all know that Frank "I love myself" Kennedy couldn't organise a P*SS up in a pub!!!!! All he plays is dune, dune and more dune. On the odd occasion he might play RMB or a really bad mix of Brooklyn Bounce over Safri Duo!!! For the sake of the listeners, I think you should call it a day Frank, you know you are a waste of air time!!!!!

I WAS IN DUBLIN YESTERDAY EVENING, AND WAS LISTENING TO SIMON DAVIS ON FREEDOM, HE IS EXCELLENT, I HAD SOMEONE WITH ME IN THE CAR WHO SLAGGED ME BECAUSE I WAS SO IMPRESSED!I THINK HE IS EXCELLENT WITH A GREAT VOICE AND COULD BE GIVEN THE EDGE TO PERFORM VERY WELL IN ANY LEGAL STATION, I KNOW IF I WAS A PD I WOULD FIT HIM IN SOMEWHERE IN THE SCHEDULE! I DODNT HEAR HIM FOR TOO LONG BUT GOT A FEW LINKS, AM I FAR OUT?

Most of the jocks were there from over the years...there was also a healthy showing from the posse and from other anorak minded individuals (including a contingent from Energy 94). The music was almost all early 90's Sunset classics and it was nice to see some old faces (including Gareth Kenny, Dave Wilson and Benny Ryan - who I hadn't seen since the closedown!).

Kudos to those involved in the organising of the whole event...it was the best behaved Sunset pissup I've ever been at! (and there was no DJ Four X there either!).

what a great night! Fair play to Andy Preston to organise the night together with some rounds of sandwiches to help the drink go down. It wasn't an anorak event with Pete Reed and Ger Roe doing the video thing! One thing though what possessed us to go to the spawell afterwards?? ALl in all a great night!!

Not quite Paul! We are renaming the station, getting a new jingle package, new dj's and a new studio. We have nothing got to do with "Hardcore Radio" so please don't make comments when you don't know the facts!

The only reason we didn't launch it on Saturday is because we felt the aerial rig wasn't getting out as well as it should. So, we hope to have everything sorted over the next 2 weeks. I'll keep you posted on a date.

No Problem Paul. We are being relayed on 88.0 by an unknown party! Thanks for the comments on the music choice, ah the memories! Anyway we are launching soon so keep by the radio and I'll keep you posted on what's going on.

Yes we will be looking for DJ's in the near future we broadcast from North Dublin (very near where you are. If you can send an mp3 demo with 30 seconds of some tunes and your voice over to thenew93@excite.com and if we like it we'll let you know.

f*ck , there's a blast from the past. He was quite good on air. Tight and funny at times. It'd be good to hear him back on the radio. Maybe there should be a missing in action jocks list on this site , that would be cool.

Here's another one for you, Darren Kelly! Where is he and what is he doing? I last heard that he had gone to work for a station in England any one know? Again if you have an email or contact number for him please send it to thenew93@excite.com

In all due respect...you don't have a clue what you are talking about! Firstly, B_en M_urray has nothing to do with our station and secondly, In my post about Darren Kelly, I never mentioned anything about him coming to work for us!

Firstly, I dont wan2 start a war of words on this board, as that is not what its for. I merely gave an opinion, as it was of my knowledge that he WAS involved because Ive received a number of texts from him in the last few weeks stating that he is in fact involved. And as for me s*it stirring, it wasnt meant to sound like that, obviously you took it up the wrong way, my apologies on that.

Andy Prestons baby. Sounding well. Better then 103 at the time in fact.

Then the second bit kicks in and you realise a few things. Glen Stephens is/was highly underated and we can always have a good laugh with G__LEN, God bless him. He tells us all the facts. I love this guy purely from a humour perspective. THE biggest ****er of radio in the 90s.

Then the lovely Tracy bringing things to a close. Good memories. Even if you do want to kill Tony Weston just listening to him.

Gary owned Hot but it was more or less Andy's baby. Re; a reunion: it was more or less done a couple of weeks back with the Sunset reunion in Tallaght. Maybe I should have put this in the Nostalgia section of the site. Hmmmmmmm

hi everyone I have of 2 stations that i cant get swirl95.6 and bliss105 i live on the northside any info?? also does anybody know if new dance radio 97.8 vibe 105 104.7 power fm 97.2 and hits 106 106.1 are coming back on. what is the station in d 15 on 104.7 called??

turning down the treble shouldn't make your station more bassy. Are you sure you're not eq'ing the audio before your compressor/limiter?

That noise is probably due to frequencies getting up to 19khz and beyond.(I remember the early 90's pirates initially had this problem when CD usage became widespread). However I thought most decent studio compressors had filters to knock out those nasty frequencies.

Trimmer, the EQ should go before the compression as any change in EQ will affect the overall energy of the signal and could easily lead to overmod.

The high frequency splash that you're getting could be due to the fact that you're trying to put out frequencies above 15KHz which is supposed to be the upper end of FM stereo.

If you only have a basic compressor then heavy bass which has a lot of energy will cause the compression of treble which is very low energy.

A basic compressor will not see the high frequencies and as such may have very little effect on treble allowing it to fizz away.

My advice is turn down the EQ on everything above 15KHz and boost 12/13KHz a bit, if the sound is bassy then don't be afraid to just turn down the bass (chop off anything below 50Hz anyway). This will allow you to raise your overall audio without overmodding.

If you have a stereo encoder make sure that the Pre-emphasis switch on the TRANSMITTER is OFF !!!!. (It would be of help if you mentioned the name of ur station and where you are so others here might be able to listen and comment!)

Firstly if you have a number of people working on the station glue all the tone and EQ controls on the mixer so they can't be changed, people will just play with them to change the sound to the way the like it.

Then feed the lot into an ordinary PA type graphic equaliser the more bands the better, chop off everything below 50Hz and above 15KHz, if you have sibilance problems then do as suggested elsewhere and drop the upper vocal frequencies. Then EQ to get the sound you like don't be afraid to turn things down rather than up to get then tonal balance you like. Try listening on different types of receivers IE cheap mono radio, walkman, car stereo all with their EQ off in order to get an idea of how it sounds. If you have an inexpensive compressor don't push it, or the bass, too hard or it will take the sparkle off your sound.

If you want to get rid of the sibilence at all cost buy a de-esser which is specifically designed to deal with the problem.

Spend a bit of time using the same few bits of music you know well over a number of days giving your ears a chance to rest in between.

HA HA HA. To aaoowwnly me and Bob. I am not 106fmfan or however you claim. I am not here to cause trouble or hear stupid comments from people like bob and aaoowwnly me if you ask me they are the same person. After all its a free world, I will say what i want,when I want, and I will not be stopped from doing so by a few silly individuals who have nothing better to do with their time but post offensive, silly postings. I would also like to point out that I think q102.9 are a pretty good station. I would also like to point out that I am not a dj either bob. To the MODERATOR please do something about theses sad individuals, BAN them from this forum, or something as they have nothing constructive to say about pirate radio or anything to do with radio, all they can do is be bitter about something that I have nothing to do with.

Will yee listen to yourself djmac/106fan - "i'm telling the teacher"- Grow up. By the way, i'm not bob and i'm nothing to do with Q102 - it's a ****e station, just like 106fm. They play government approved music. Thats why i'm into pirate radio, cos it offers a change from the norm regards music quality on the air! 106fm are just another q102 with a slight change in music policy.

Good question, it would appear to depend on whose toes you tramp on, during the last visit, if my sources are correct, all stations were told to cease operation with the exception of 106fm who had their equipment seized on foot of a warrant for alleged criminal damage, So far no one would appear to have been charged, which is unusual as we all know that the guarda would have you in court quicker than the speed of an FM link signal if they had any evidence. You do the maths, Damage alleged on old Riverside 101 aeriel owned by Q102 and for all LEGAL intents and purposes no longer operational, 106fm would appear to have been the only serious threat to Q102`s listening figures, Prior to 106fm raid Q102`s signal drops dramatically in a lot of Areas.. possibly in preparation for the arrival of ODTR and guardai, I guess the moral is that pirate broadcasts and illegal transmitters are safe as long as you are legal, don`t give up, Never give in, There Is NO SUCH THING AS A LEGIT OPERATION, there are those supported by the Authorities and those who aren`t. FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND FREEDOM OF CHOICE REVOKED.... NO APPEAL!

In an attempt to swell their ranks the ODTR have taken to attending careers information events in Northern Ireland, just recently a friend of mine spotted a stand at a careers fair at Magee in the fair city... Lets hope that people who attend those fairs have their eyes set on a more honest and rewarding career, like for instance a future as a traffic warden...............!!!1

In response to (The president) I aggree with everything he/she has said . I was just wondering if 106fm will get all there equipment back from the odtr/garda. ALSO DID THE SAME THING HAPPEN TO W.A.B.C FM103.9 FM, WHY ARE THEY NOT BACK ON AIR AGAIN EITHER. COME ON GUYS (106FM* WABCFM 103.9) LOOK AT DRIVE 105.3 AND TCR FM THEY GOT OFF THEIR ASSES AND DID,NT LET Q102.9,ODTR RUIN THEIR RADIO STATIONS, FAIR PLAY TO DRIVE105,TCR FM AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. COME ON 106FM AND W.A.B.C 103.9 SHOW THE N,W WHO,S THE BEST AND KICK SOME ASS.( B.T.W HAS THE PRESIDENT GOT SOMETHING TO DO WITH 106FM) IF SO TELL US WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THE SATION. OR 106FM CREW TELL COME BACK INTO THE FORUM AND UPDATE USE ON WHAT IS HAPPENING. BEETER STILL GET OF YOUR ASSES AND UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE, COME ON 106 ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LOOK AT OTHER RADIO STATIONS THAT ARE WHERE IN YOUR SITUATION ENERGY106, KISS106, MAGIC105 LOOK AT THERE SAMPLE((THERE STILL ON AIR)) AND GOING STRONG.

WHATS YOUR PROBLEM MATE? WHO ARE YOU? IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY YOU SAY IT TO MY FACE NOT IN HERE U TWAT,****ER....

I CAME IN TO THIS FORUM TO MAKE A POINT,ASK A FEW QUESTIONS, NOT TO TAKE **** FROM A ****ER LIKE U AAWAOWL ME OR WATEVER YOUR STUPID NAME IS. AND BY THE WAY I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH 106FM, I JUST THINK THEY ARE THE BEST STATION IN THE N,W. I WISH I DID WORK FOR THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE GOING TO BE BIG. POINT MADE

aye - playing cheesy bland spiritless piss artist 'music' to twaty teeny boppers. Thats whats wrong with the music industry - too many mindless twats that think they know music when they don't have a clue, like you for instance, then theres the wanqers that are making money from their stupididty, like 106fm for instance!

what a disappointment to witness Aaoonly me acting like a total Bollox, seems to be adopting a Radio commission attitude in dissing anyone with a view on anything apart from what they dictate, as for music policy I think that you`ll find that the music played by 106fm was representitive of the demands of todays youth, the only trouble was that they appeared to get their hands on it before the Legals so therefore they had to go, Before you fling your did you work for 106 question, the ans is no, but I did on numerous occassions contact them and found them a lot more obliging than the ****s on a lot of the other stations. So rather than being a complete ass why don`t you take your narrow minded opinionated views and shove them, D.J. mac fair play to you for having a view instead of trying to make little of anyone elses...

first, a lot of you were recently moaning because the forum has gone really quiet and how you miss the "controversy" - now you freak out because aaoowwnly me has made an honest comment, and someone else supports this comment.

Where's the problem?? What do you want??

At least my honest comments were above belt - not like djmac/106FMFAN's.

I am not criticising 106FM with my comments, I just feel sorry for the embarrassment 106FM must go through when posed with the typical 106FMFAN type repeat questions on this forum; "106FM WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO DO THIS..... 106FM WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO DO THAT...... 106FM WHEN ARE YOU GOING BACK ON AIR........ Its like a fly to s h i t! keeps coming back, just refuses to go away, irritates, gives the impression that he has not got anything else in his head! That, reillybro, can be categorised as being narrow minded.

On your question on whoever I may be, Bob is Bob and does not wish to hide his real name in any way. You will have to work out the rest for yourself though, my friend.......

Good to see someone decent in here and knows what they are talking about (reillybros). As to bob and annoow or what ever your names are, a small question do u work in legal radio, bob do u work in q102. If not what do u know about what a decent radio station sounds like, You probably listen to country and western thats would explain a lot. DISCUSSION CLOSED/FINISHED. GOODBYE YOU ARE THE WEEKEST LINK.

'Bob', just to pull you up on something; you claim someone above must be a 106FM listener because of their punctuation. You also claimed your opinion by saying "they even put the ' between the N and the T within the word DON'T. Just want to inform you that it does go where you disputed, reason being, you would be leaving out the O from DO NOT so when you combine the words, you insert the ' as follows; DON'T. Same applies to words such as WOULD NOT changing to WOULDN'T...wanted to clear it up as I find nothing more annoying than a smart-arse such as yourself feeling you have the ability to talk about grammar, spelling or punctuation when you're just as bad. Back to your discussion...

Yeah Bob you're right - apostrophes are the best! What an argument, jeezuss Bob I don't know how you forced yourself to answer such a simple minded argument. You are right - it's now his shot, lets see what he comes up with, maybe a new name to hide his embarrassment!

Who cares Bob/awwwooowly me(THE SAME PERSON) Who the fu-k cares. Stop repeating yourself with rhe same old abusive attitude toward everyone else. Sma e old thing all the time. WHO CARES. Boring,boring,boring,boring!!!!!! LETS TALK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE ON THE PIRATE RADIO SCENE.(Not how someone spells or anything else. Get a life you fool.

Who cares Bob/awwwooowly me(THE SAME PERSON) Who the fu-k cares. Stop repeating yourself with rhe same old abusive attitude toward everyone else. Sma e old thing all the time. WHO CARES. Boring,boring,boring,boring!!!!!! LETS TALK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE ON THE PIRATE RADIO SCENE.(Not how someone spells or anything else. Get a life you fool.

Who cares Bob/awwwooowly me(THE SAME PERSON) Who the fu-k cares. Stop repeating yourself with rhe same old abusive attitude toward everyone else. Sma e old thing all the time. WHO CARES. Boring,boring,boring,boring!!!!!! LETS TALK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE ON THE PIRATE RADIO SCENE.(Not how someone spells or anything else. Get a life you fool.

NOTE. I did not post the 2 above postings by 106fmfan.I am not 106FMFAN. This must be anoowwly me/Bobs new name. Very interesting. But you are not annoying me bob, anoowly me/106fmfan ALL THE SAME PERSON IF YOU ASK ME. B.TW I know who you are BOB/ANNOOWLY ME!! SO GROW UP. I will not be replying to anymore of your sad/silly posts.As i have better things to do.TO 106FMFAN STAND UP AND TELL EVERYONE WHO YOU ARE. And do not repeat my replys you sad asshole. Bob/Annoowwly me.

NOTE. I did not post the 2 above postings by 106fmfan.I am not 106FMFAN. This must be anoowwly me/Bobs new name. Very interesting. But you are not annoying me bob, anoowly me/106fmfan ALL THE SAME PERSON IF YOU ASK ME. B.TW I know who you are BOB/ANNOOWLY ME!! SO GROW UP. I will not be replying to anymore of your sad/silly posts.As i have better things to do.TO 106FMFAN STAND UP AND TELL EVERYONE WHO YOU ARE. And do not repeat my replys you sad asshole. Bob/Annoowwly me.

NOTE. I did not post the 2 above postings by 106fmfan.I am not 106FMFAN. This must be anoowwly me/Bobs new name. Very interesting. But you are not annoying me bob, anoowly me/106fmfan ALL THE SAME PERSON IF YOU ASK ME. B.TW I know who you are BOB/ANNOOWLY ME!! SO GROW UP. I will not be replying to anymore of your sad/silly posts.As i have better things to do.TO 106FMFAN STAND UP AND TELL EVERYONE WHO YOU ARE. And do not repeat my replys you sad asshole. Bob/Annoowwly me.

First the news this past week of 252 and now I'm hearing the news about ABC due to close in 2 weeks. What is happening!!!!!

Those of you who know me will know that I have always counted ABC power 104 as one of the best pirates in the country with a music mix and audio to beat most. I will miss it although it is only a few times a year I visit Waterford and I would sincerely like to say congrats to Colm and all the team who have put on a really great service over the last six years as the new/recent ABC from the mid 90s (I never heard the 80s ABC). I haven't heard the station recently but I assume it is as good as it was over the past 6 years that I have heard it.

fantastic music mix

great audio

some great sweepers and jingles

and some good jocks. There are 1 or 2 in particular I have heard over the years but I don't know their names. I thought Steven D was great in the mid 90s as was Colm

I hope the guys are successful in a licence campaign. I agree - they've been very professional sounding since day one.

What's interesting is that a lot of the jocks who started out on ABC have gone on to bigger stations - kinda like Pulse. Steven Dee left South East to go to ABC for a couple of years - then rejoined on breakfast.

South East took another 3 or 4 jocks over the past couple of years (can't think of their names). The girl who is doing nights down on Cork 96 got her break on ABC - and the co-presenter of the Chris Barry Show, Niall, was with them for a long while.

It's a shame I know, but Johnny C you are probably right. The regional licence is going to be a massive money earner and the BCI would be loath to give it to ABC. One point worth pointing out is that we do not know who their backers are, they may have actually 'gotten into bed' with one of the other legal operators or indeed a UK Radio group. In reality, there is nothing stopping GWR or EMAP getting involved in this market.

I predict that South East Radio will get the licence if they apply for it (acc. to the Irish Times they will). WLR said that they may have a punt as well.

I'd be very interested to read other people's insights into this.

So - are we really going to get a CHR station that will change the radio landscape in Ireland or just another outpost of 98FM?

With the ownership laws now allowing the fattest of the fatcats to get richer, I wouldn't be surprised if we are to see Denis O'Brien making a bid in a shareholder capacity. So don't be surprised to see a rigidly formatted CHR a la 98FM popping up.

And providing employment to non-nationals is the economic dream this country's been built on...

The idea that the regional is a licence to print money is a laugh. Do your sums. It'll take deep pockets and experience to get that one going....and I know the ABC Power 104 team are certainly not idealists...or starry-eyed.

I am neither starry eyed or an idealist, but I know that a station offering what ABC want to offer will make a success in the South East of the country. If you look at the census figures you will see that there is a sustainable market there. I don't know who they could bring in, as there doesn't seem to be anyone on WLR or SER that fits the bill, but when I was listening last week they seem to have a few people that could turn it into a good station. I would not be surprised if a liner card 98 was given the licence, but to be honest it would be a real shame.

As for former pirates getting the licence, WLR has proved to be a powerful precedent, but if you look closely at the service that WLR are offering it has every right to be the local station. The fact that they were a pirate has nothing to do with it. They offered a local service and were awarded the licence on the basis of that. If ABC Power want to get the licence they will have to prove to the BCI that they can offer a genuine alternative, and not just an anti WLR / SER service.

Finally, I still think that SER will get the licence. Anytime I venture down the country that is my station of choice!

First off, best of luck to the ABC crew - they deserve a licence and I hope they get it!

As for the Dublin radio licences in 1988; Q102 didn't apply. Most of their management team were awarded a licence as Capital Radio Productions. Robbie Dale applied - didn't get it (and he should've). They were never going to licence Carey - he self destructed two years prior to that.

Around the country, Radio West effectively got a licence as Midlands Radio 3. Radio Kilkenny got a licence. So did WLR. And MWR. And BLB (as Horizon Radio).

Since then, Near FM (NDCR in the 80's) got licensed in Dublin. As did TCR, DSCR and Phoenix FM. All former pirates.

I disagree with most of the BCI and what they stand for, but lets be accurate here. Oh yeah, 98FM isn't CHR. And South East Radio have liners too you know!!!

Heard there was a new radio station starting up,broadcasting to mid-ulster on 100.3 fm called zee100fm. It says on their website (www.zee100.com) that they are going to start broadcasting from today. Good luck guys. you must be using some power to broadcast all over mid-ulster and further afield, afraid to say i did,nt here much on 100.3 fm in Mid-Ulster today guys. ARE YOU,S GUYS USING OR GOING TO USE THE ENERGY106 MAST AS THEY ARE NOT BEEN BROADCASTING WITH TO MUCH POWER RECENTLY. NOT LONG TO ENERGY106.6 CLOSES NOW DEC SOMETIME IS,NT IT?

Has this station materialised, only it seems strange that everytime the Q102 outfit are poised to make an application for a license, up pops a pirate station, I'm sure that there couldn't possibly be any connection.....................

Is Energy106 still going to close at Christmas for good? The signal into mid-ulster has been dreadful for a long time now. Whats the story here then? No money to broadcast at full power. Even Thunder107fm broadcasts with more power/stronger signal.

I see Energy106 is more or less back up to full power again in Mid-Ulster, good to see. Also heard something about A new company formed by Energy106 called ENERGY RADIO PLC. Something to do with trying to get a licence to broadcast to n,ireland from n,ireland,And they are asking people to buy shares in Energy106.6 for £20.00. INTERESTING.

energy fm (Dublin) or Magic (Ulster) would get my vote as the most pro-pirates with ABC (Waterford) up there also. Would the old Sunset fm from Dublin (at least in it's later years 93-94) not be up there also?

Sunset and ESG would not sound professional by today's pirate standards IMHO. Sunset was a great station and ESG had its moments but both failed to sound as well as the likes of Hot (Sunset reborn) and Energy (ESG reborn). Although, in fairness to Sunset things were a lot more basic back then.

Freedom have the potential to be huge and its a pity their management don't make more of an effort overall. Their audio is fantastic and one or two of their DJs sound great but where they falter slightly is their Music policy - its all over the place. A better focus on a playlist and a couple of other things on their imaging and I think Freedom would easily come close to Energy.

sun fm is mentioned breeze in the top posting so that may be why it was not mentioned again. Freedom is 50/50 as to whether it is a pro or not, not that I have anything against the station or the effort put in by what I am sure is a great team. Although sun fm is 1 of the pro pirates in Dublin, bear in mind it is fully automated including the DJ voicetracking during the day so it kind of cheats in a way!!

As a dj in night clubs in Dublin City Centre, I have to be interested in dance radio which is unfortunate. My favourite station at the moment is Energy 94FM because of its professionalism, however customers who come up to me say they listen to HOT 99.4FM.

I don't understand why this is, does anyone feel that its time for Energy to move a few things around, apart from getting another frequency to pull the interest of those upcoming clubbers of the future, cos the ones who I talk to dont listen to what should be Dublin's Number One Dance Music Station?

Well it now seems that Lawrence has now departed from Energy 106 FM (otherwise known as the Alien Station) and it is now totally in the hands of Miles Johnson and the owner of Magic Cool or what? The reason for the post is that on this occasion Energy/Belfast's Big Beat 106FM don't seem to be getting their normal round of press on this one so I thought I'd let some of you know. They have changed their name also. Even the website is down www.energy-106.co.uk I have a feeling it will spring back with a new domain name as well. Well all I can say is I hope there is a change of music policy, but it leaves one question what happens to all the £20.00 notes all the people sent in for Energy106 plc? Can somebody enlighten me ?

Ex BBC Radio 1 filler transmitter for sale in good condition both cosmetically and electrically. 1-1.5Kw RF output. High level modulation. Single phase 240v required. Complete in a single 6ft rack. Price £1500.00 plus delivery or collect from London. Can arrange delivery to anywhere in Ireland.

When you said filler transmitter, Idi, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was a VHF/FM one. I completely overlooked the note about high level mod. Maybe I owe you a pombe next time I'm visiting Arua!

Now, I wonder if I still have that handbook for the Marconi 1kw MF somewhere?

90% chance its the amp (especially if its wideband, cheap and/or unscreened)

To check turn off the power supply to it and see if you can get RTE (albeit maybe snowier than usual) I'm assuming here the amp is just for BBC. This proves the amp is the problem and not the TV as well (you also need to rule out video's etc)

Try a good quality filter (e.g. Taylor) between the aerial and amp. If that doesn't work you'll have to replace the amp with a screened type (go for UHF only rather than UHF/VHF) It may also be worth replacing the coax cable (especially the bit between the aerial and amp) with satellite grade cable (most hardware store coax is cheap badly screened junk)

Agh tvi i hate those 3 letters but as mike said it's most likely the amp look out for the lab gear one's these are cheap as hell and are unscreened (usually) they are very distinctive are the have a round body with a tag coming off at the top and this is where it cable ties to the mast

also try filtering the tv systems i dought this will work at 150 watts but it's worth a shot if you can afford the signal loss filter before the tv amp that way the amp won't be getting the fm also if the amp is one with the vhf input and your like me living in an all uhf area now then change the amp to an all uhf amp this should help

johanson make a good amp also they are in a tin housing inside the outer plastic box so this acts as great screening let us know how you get on if you need further help if i can i will i know how annoy this problem is i can be contacted at icefm@eircom.net

Have you managed to look at your own output? I don't know how clean the tx you have is; maybe a filter between the transmitter and tx antenna might cure all your problems. A few watts shouldn't normally cause the neigbours any problems.

What TV transmitter/s are these people receiving?? (This is a Very Important question if for example Channel G is used freqs around 99-103 approx would be very troublesome.)

Which ones needs masthead amplifiers??

Try bypassing the amps totally and see what happens (you must bypass the actual masthead amp at the antenna - contrary to what a lot of people think the box behind the TV is a powersupply which puts current up the coax to the amps, take these out of line as well. If you have a distribution amp get rid of this as well. If you do all this you will get very snowy pictures. However if you then switch on the FM TX and you see no interference appearing you can definitely rule out the TX as being to blame.

I hope I can help you make your decision with a few pointers and personal opinions, however in the end of the day I am not the ODTR and

I can only make logical predictions based on my past experience.

Firstly the action by the ODTR a few months back was nothing more than

a scare mongering tactic that was quite successful for a while.

However the pirate bug that lives in us eventually gets the better of us, and you only can decide if you are willing take to risk or continue to be bitten by the bug.

Questions and Answers

Q. How long should I wait before restarting?

A. Now, personally I think the worse thing that could happen to

you is you may receive another threat from the ODTR that

holds no real substance and is very unlikely to ever lead to

p****cution.

If you are not causing any harm to anyone (i.e. TVI) then

it could be years before you even hear from them again.

Q. Is it VERY important to move location?

A. No, remember the ODTR can track you down in minutes, just as

I could by means of triangulation or simply using a

signal meter on a mobile scanner and homing in by signal strength.

Even some of the engineers in the ODTR know people who

probably provided you with equipment or even installed it.

Q. If they return what are the chances of me being pr0secuted?

A. Very slim unless you have been a nuisance to others

by not been responsible for your illegal actions, for example

1. Causing TV or radio interference to your neighbours if you

are located in a residential area.

2. Taking on advertisers that are already been aired on

legal radio and plus stealing revenue from same.

3. Transmitting closely to the frequency of a legal radio

station, try stay at least .5Mhz from a mountain site.

If broadcasting from a residential area consider a 1Mhz

distance because the channel separation of cheap clock

radios are not able to differentiate between a very strong

and moderate signal.

Other things to consider?

Do not over modulate your transmitter or the bandwidth of your transmitting frequency will expand and cause interference to neighbouring broadcasters.

If using a mountain site think of checking all the areas your signal will transmit to before choosing your frequency, you could find that your chosen frequency appears to be free in the South East area of Dublin but is occupied by a weak but audible signal in the South West area of Dublin.

no local bands being played. This is anti competitive and really insulting to the people of Cork by the BCI. They also sold off the station now we believe to UTV or at least some of it.

We have had to endure a station of Hit and Memories for years while our radio station gave us the two fingers. RTE broadcast for about 6 hours a day at one stage and they played very little local music either. Chorus the Cable Channel are allowed to Broadcast while they are not broadcasting local television.

Most of the politicians are afraid to open their mouth in case they won't get on the air the next election.

We are planning a march next year with a public meeting because we are really fed up with this. It has come to the stage that IMRO are giving out awards called fairplay for Airplay if these station would honour us with an Irish show.

Where is the justice we ask if our own culture and music is kept off the air in place of the money grabbers of this country. This is on the same par as our language being taken years ago.

I am all for supporting Irish music, if it is good enough. There is a train of thought in this country that people should get things without deserving them. Music is the same. If you create good enough music then it will get played, if it doesn't then it won't.

Ireland is a meritocracy and shouldn't support mediocrity because it's Irish mediocrity.

Have your march all you like, but to be honest - if it's good enough to deserve airplay you shouldn't have to get someone to bully the radio stations to play it.

Noticed that the new board contains more postings on the Legal Radio forum than the Pirate, a distinct reversal, what`s the general consensus of everyone, should the pirates continue, do they have the support? or should they resign themselves to the fact that the ODTR seems intent on doing the dirty work of others, namely the once pirate now legal stations nationwide? I for one feel that they should continue, but what does everyone else think? I await your learned and respected opinions.

I sincerely believe that we all have a fundamental right to freedom of speech and choice - something the authorities are not currently giving us on radio.

From a listening perspective, I don't tend to stick with any one station. For talk, I favour the likes of RTE, BBC and some Today FM. The current crop of legal stations on the other hand does not cater for my taste in music, whereas the likes of the recently defunct Premier and Gem along with the still going strong, Sun FM, are the types of station for me.

Legal radio targets its programming content at the lowest common denominator. Unfortunately, the commercial drive to make as much money as possible will ensure the status quo remaining in place for some time to come.

For that reason, I consider it entirely proper that private individuals take it upon themselves to set up stations, thereby filling the voids left vacant by broadcasters not wishing to cater for the niche end of the market.

Until OUR elected representatives allow US, the people who put them there, the democratic right to listen to what we want, then I say long live pirate radio - you're doing great job.

The term "democracy" is used a lot here. While the right to freedom of expression is an integral part of any democratic society the fundamental basis of democracy is acceptance of the wishes of the majority. If you want the law changed you have to either prove that you have the support of the majority of the electorate (people over 18 who are registered to vote) or gain that support. The policy of breaking a law because you feel it is unfair to you or your beliefs is not democracy, it's anarchy.

It is unfortunate that there are a number of people who feel disenfranchised by the broadcasting act, but you must understand that as along as you continue to break the law your arguement will have no legitimacy. If you don't play the game you can't win it.

Irish Mike appears to take a defeatist attitude, in what way did the " Marine Offences Act 1967 " serve democracy, the offshore stations had clearly demonstrated the support of the majority of the population in the UK ( and most of Europe ). Without those stations commercial radio would never have arrived in the UK.

Think of Nova ( 1980's), Sunshine ERI they carried the support of the population AND they broke the law, the authorities made moves to change legislation inspite of the desires of the people in both cases.

Everything gets easier with practice --------- Except getting up in the morning

Good to have you back on the forum again. As generally seems to be the case though, I disagree with your point.

You make the point that as long as pirates continue to break the law that their argument will have no legitimacy within a democracy. While technically this may seem logical, in the real world, and in our real imperfect democracy its not true. Here's some examples:

1. ESAT fitting auto diallers for their early ESAT Clear experiments. Illegal, but led to an immediate decrease in phone charges and will eventually lead to the ODTR finally forcing Eircom to unbundle the local loop.

2. Nestors bus company offering "travel clubs" in order to provide low cost frequent buses from Galway to Dublin. Prior to Nestor, there were three buses a day from Galway at massive prices. Now, following the "illegal" clubs from Nestor, there is now competition on the route and many others with better coaches at lower prices.

3. Petrol station shops opening on Sundays. Originally illegal again but eventually forced more logical opening hour laws for shops.

4. Ryanair's illegal purchasing of airport "slots" to launch its Dublin-London service. At that stage it cost many hundreds of pounds to get to London and we all used to plod on to the ferry and bus to get there. Then, Ryanair introduced its £99 pound fair, and hey presto, market opens.

5. Blah blah Nova, Sunshine, TTTR, etc. Blah particularly the ones who became legitimate on the basis of their "illegality" eg WLR etc. Also of course TnaG.

Its daft, but the only way to gain legitimacy in this country seems to be to force the issue by bending the laws. Eventually, they catch up and we crawl into the 21st Century. Thats the nature of the sort of democracy we live in. Its not great, but its better than diggin a ditch as the man says!

Anyway, I do take your point and it is a sad reflection on Irish society that people feel compelled to take drastic action but I honestly believe that the political climate here is changing and the next government will be more responsive to the wishes of the people.

Most of the examples you gave were not actually illegal, they merely exploited loopholes. Nesters travel clubs, as private clubs were not a public bus service and therefore not a challenge to the state monopoly. Even the pre 1988 pirates were exploiting a loophole. Before the 1988 broadcasting act it was only illegal to own broadcasting equipment, there was no law against using it. That's why all the super pirates leased their equipment from third party companies. After the May 1983 raids Chris Cary was fined a mere £50 because the equipment didn't belong to him, it's also why RTE resorted to jamming, because there was little they could do legally.

Today, however, the situation is somewhat different. Firstly there's the fact that the current pirates are not exploiting any loophole, they are acting in contravention to broadcasting law. Secondly, the original Irish Pirates and the British offshore pirates of the 60's were offering listeners a choice which otherwise would not have existed, quite simply there was no choice other than the pirates. Today however the listener is offered a legitimate choice, it may not suit everyone but there is choice.

I admire those who stand up for what they believe in, but you must accept that as long as you break the laws laid down by the government you cannot expect that government or it's agencies to give any credence to your case.

If drugs are ever legalised in this country it won't be because of the number of users there are, it will be on the recommendation of an independent third party.

It's unfortunate, but this moral dilemma about adhering to what is strictly legal appears to be one that is treated with more than a little bit of subjectivity by those in positions of power and influence. Police, politicians and big business people everyday are manipulating and breaking laws to suit their own objectives of making as much money and/or gaining more power over the weaker, more vulnerable in society.

We have had certain politicians riding roughshod over the democratic process for years. Business tycoons who continue to defraud in their dealings with the tax authorities are rewarded with endless amnesties. There are countless other examples too numerous to mention here.

Therefore, the relatively minor indiscretion of broadcasting without a licence pales into a great deal of insignificance when compared with the transgressions mentioned above.

Radio Mad, no one is disputing that dishonesty and corruption have been present in Irish society for many years. However, if you choose to break the law you have no right to criticise others for doing so.

The matter is not limited to the fact of illegal broadcasting. I would be very surprised if all the pirate operators declared their earnings and paid tax on profits from advertising revenue. I personally know of at least two presenters on pirates who are paid (albeit a small amount) and are still signing on without declaring their extra income. That is illegal and unfair to society as a whole.

On more than one occasion I have asked those who say they have large audiences and strong support to show the evidence, never have I received a reply. I don't doubt that those who operate many of the country's pirate stations believe in what they are doing but you must accept the reality: YOU ARE BREAKING THE LAW. The fact that others are also breaking laws does not excuse your actions. All the examples given of law breakers, or law benders, would be able to offer justification of some sort for their transgressions.

I accept that the original Irish pirates were breaking (or at least circumventing) the law, the one difference is that those stations genuinely were the only choice for listeners. The truth of many of the current pirates appears to be that they feel that their needs and tastes are not sufficiently catered for, not the needs of the population at large. Again I ask for someone to offer up hard evidence for the need for these stations. If you can prove your case then do so. Until the pirates can support their case with hard facts their argument is little more than the protests of a guilty party.

Big business interests control most of the media in this country. Where is the democracy in that? Pirate or free radio allows people who don't have wads of cash in their pockets to set-up and broadcast to like-minded people.

You see it's not good enough to say that by breaking a law we negate any right we have to enter into debate and discussion. The laws and major business decisions are made by a privileged few who don't represent me or the majority of people in this country.

This is not democracy we have here, never has been and never will. So, as long as politicians and big business continue to (lets not bull**** about this by calling it circumvention) break the laws of the land, I say, let the small person have their say by continuing to broadcast on pirate radio.

As for the people who maybe working and signing on the dole at the same time, I will condemn them once the revenue authorities here stop issuing amnesties to big business bastards who think they can go around breaking the tax laws, while the rest of us pay our taxes in full.

Here Fukcing Here! There is no democracy in this society, it's full of capitalist cuntz controlling everything including your thoughts, through the media and politics. They have their own agenda and thats to make as much money as they can - from you and me - the same people they don't want having any control i.e. not being able to run your own radio station and having your own freedom of expression. Thats why all the legal radio station presenters all sound as if they are sucking someones Cok and haven't got an opinion of their own, cos they are told what they can and cannot say, and you don't sound too far off them Irish mike, "breaking the law"? Who the hell isn't breaking the law, it's there to be broken, the law is only there cos someone didn't get their way all those years ago and thought they were right so they imposed restrictions in order for it (the thing that THEY didn't like) not to happen again, cos they had a bit of power. On the most part the law is a sham, it's a restriction of freedom, it's only there to benefit elitists and the powers that be, not you or me and don't ever forget it.

Why are people not allowed to take drugs or listen to pirate radio where as the president of the USA is gettin his cokc sucked and still allowed to run the world. Why was George bush voted in as president when he rigged the votes, then 4 days before there was supposed to be an investigation into this sham of an election, there was a coincidental and convenient tragedy (september 11th) which meant that they couldn't hold the inquiry because the president had more important matters at hand.

The Irish government are not going to be more responsive to the wishes of the people, they are going to do what george bush and Co tell them to do, we are more or less run by America, it's a one world government in the making and pirate radio is not on the schedule of events. Keep believeing the news, it'll help you abide by the law! There there!

Ah yes, the wisdom of Aaoowwnnly me! I find it amusing that you complain about Capitalists yet you are one of the strongest supporters of a free market policy for radio licences in Ireland, a VERY capiatlist principle.

I'm not sure why I'm bothering to argue this point with you since you're obviously inhabiting some distant, chemicaly produced planet, but the law is not there to be broken, it is there to protect society from those who would seek to put the welfare of others at risk for their own gain. And to protect people like you from yourself (can you imagine a world where Aaoowwnnly me was allowed to broadcast his ideas and beliefs freely!! actually the comedy value would be terrific).

For as long as this thread has been running (and probably longer) I have asked those who say that there is a "massive" audience for the pirates to produce the figures they claim to have which support their arresrtion. As yet, despite numerous calls to produce the goods, I have been offered nothing. This leads me to one conclusion: There are no such figures.

I am not saying the current broadcasting law is fair but it is the law and in a democracy you have to abide by the law. I think the current tax laws are very unfair on people like me (slightly above average earning married with 2 children) but I still pay my tax, why? Because it's the law. If I stopped paying my tax how many people do you think would support my claim that the system was unfair on me? Probably none because I have no right to complain about a system I refuse to adhere to.

I will make one final call to pirate operators who feel that the current law is insufficient: Cease broadcasting now and put together a legitimate arguement backed up with hard evidence to support your claims. If you refuse to do this then you are simply proving that you do not have the maturity and sense of responibility required to hold a broadcasting licence.

The reason why there are so many illegal stations operating is the refusal of successive administrations to give us the democrats of this country a decent choice.

Look what happened in Dublin post 1989. We were given 98, 104 (basically doing the same lowest common denominator thing) and Century Radio (say no more). 11/12 years later and we still don't have a station that caters for the musical tastes of teenagers. A much needed 24-hour a day station, while licensed some time ago, still hasn't begun to broadcast.

The talk now is of the new world of digital radio and TV. This is an embarrassment for Ireland, which has yet to offer its citizens a decent range of services on FM.

Finally, I don't agree with your premise that stations can't be justified if they don't have large audiences. There are plenty of niche tastes just waiting to be served. If only the backward bunch of people called politicians would finally wake up and give us what we want for once.

Long live those who are willing to offer us innovation and choice on our radios!

Irish Mike, I agree with many of your ideas about radio and for the most part I am a law abiding citizen (really). However, regarding broadcasting law in this country, I tend to think differently.

Granted, many of the current pirates have a low listenership, and many are as dull, bland and unimaginative as they claim the legal stations are (a claim I would disagree with). I still have no great problem with them being there. Mister 807 gave some good examples where 'breaking the law' led to an improvement in those laws!

Radio Mad mentioned lowest common denominator radio. Whats wrong with lowest common denominator radio? Thats what Sunshine and Super Q were and both had a huge audience in Dublin. I don't think that broadcasters should be forced to educate their audience. That said, being a big time intellectual, I prefer more substantial radio meself.

I'm guessing that 'awnly me' (or whatever the hell he calls himself) is some 15 year old going through the awkward stages of adolescence. Let us cast our memories back to what gobsh*tes we probably were at that age and feel sorry for the boy!

Ah, its great to have five minutes to sit down with a cuppa tea and reply to IrishMike! I have to say I find irishmikes insistence on this simplistic interpretation of the law very odd. I gave examples last time and I could continue on with more. Like maybe The Sufferagettes breaking the law to try to obtain the right to vote, students blocking Molesworth street to protest against the abysmal treatment of foreign workers being brought into our health service. Or to get into the really ridiculous laws, check out the Sale of Goods Acts of the 1800's: Did you ever buy a banana that wasn't completely ripe? On a Sunday perchance? Jail for you my boy. I also presume you have never driven at 35mph in a 30mph zone, or indeed been carried in a vehicle which has? Simplistic, literal application of laws never works. Every law needs to be flexible, and all laws are open to question. Move on.

Next, "pirates" and their audience figures. Firstly, audience figures are not necessarily a particularly good measurement of what makes a good radio station. Niche broadcasting is at issue here, and of course, markets can also be built over time. To say that no-one has produced the figures to "justify" their claims is also nonsense. Any token research would get you figures from "pirates" like Pulse, Kic, Phantom, Jazz, Radio Friendly, Radio North and now ABC showing their markets. Toddle down to the Ilac library or pop into the BCI offices for more details.

So Irish Mike, here's the scenario as played out by several of these literal law breakers you talk about. Of the ones I know about, Jazz, Phantom and Pulse have closed down and put together the legitimate arguments you require. They have all been turned down by a group of political appointees on various grounds, generally unexplained. What is their status? How far does literal application of the law go?

I believe I am in agreement with the broad thrust of your last posting. Unfortunately, nothing in the world is black and white. There is good and bad in almost everything and everyone, with laws being no exception.

The legislative process is a very necessary element of the democratic society that most of us aspire to. However, that certainly does not mean the enactment of every law is correct and justified.

Our broadcasting structure is light years behind those of other developed countries. I can remember being totally dismayed back in 1989/1990 when it became apparent to me that what the Government and IRTC were giving us was something akin to the British model of the early seventies. I like many of my former colleagues on pirate radio at the time believed that by going off air at the end of 1989 we were making way for a legal radio system that would offer quality and diversity of choice. This didn't happen; proving to us all the contempt the decision makers had and continues to have for the people of this country. A prime case in point of how a law failed the very people it should have been there to serve.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with stations targeting their programming at the lowest common denominator. It is true to say that the 'super pirates' of the 80's did exactly that. However, they weren't the only ones in the marketplace. There were countless others at the time catering for such assorted tastes as country, love songs, rock etc. Therefore, the obvious disdain I have for the type of stations like 98 and 104 doesn't mean they should be banished from the airways altogether. I would advocate quite the opposite. They should be permitted continue with what I perceive to be their moronic programming policies, but complemented by those willing to offer alternative choices.

It is my belief that public service broadcasting should play its part in the overall scheme of things. The state must be willing to finance niche interest radio; the type commercial operators are not interested in. It should be done in such a way as to minimise the cost to the exchequer.

Forcing pirates to close, while at the same time ignoring the real reason for their existence in the first place, is tantamount to censorship of the worst kind. Most laws are there to protect us from another and to allow society function effectively. Pirate radio harms nobody and has never (to the best of my knowledge) been a threat to social order in this country. The same can't be said for some of the legally sanctioned institutions of the state that are both undemocratic and pose a major threat to our country's overall stability. Politicians and big business tycoons are not interested in allowing more choice or free speech for us mere mortals. Egalitarianism is not a word that sits pretty with their crooked ways. Therefore, we should demand that that the restrictions currently in place be dropped forthwith, allowing anyone who wants to (subject to certain technical standards only) free access to transmit as they see fit.

It is up to each one of us to ensure we retain the right to listen to whatever radio station of our choosing. I took part in various protest marches in the 70s and 80s believing then, as I do now, that as long as our legislators continue to ignore the wishes of the people, then pirates are fully justified in what they do.

Mister807, I am well aware of the complexities of the law. However this does not detract from the basic principle of a law abiding society; the law is there to be observed. I quite agree that Dublin is vastly under served by commercial radio, but the majority of people on this forum seem to advocate an FM band filled with wall to wall dance music (yourself, Radio mad and Dearg excepted). It is my belief that the way to change the law is not to break it (it's a bit simplistic to compare the need for more radio to the sufferagette movement, by that logic the terror groups in the north who disagree with the Good Friday agreement would be justified in continuing their campaigns of violence and I'm sure NO ONE here agrees with that).

I applaude those stations who have stopped broadcasting in favour of lobbying and I am aware that they have been snubbed at their first few attempts, but politics is a difficult game and very few succeed in getting their voice heard on the first try, so persist and good luck.

This debate could last forever, I think we should agree to differ. In the time we've spent "debating" on this site I've developed a healthy respect for your views (I'm not saying I'll ever agree with you!). On this issue I do not support the attitude of "the law's an ass, ignore it" I prefer "The law's an ass, change it".

You suggest that illegal operators should cease transmitting immediately and lobby for a licence to broadcast through the political system. This hasn't worked in the past and won't work in the future. There is a proven record of big business and people in the pockets of politicians getting licences over people who have worked on radio, know what it's all about, but don't have the necessary money or credentials required to get a licence.

The BCI/IRTC are not interested in offering licences to anyone unless they are backed with big bucks. This is wholly wrong in my opinion, but who is going to listen to the likes of me or other ordinary people involved in radio whose main motivation is to produce good radio and not how much money can be made.

The likes of NewsTalk 106 require huge capital, fair enough. However, there are countless small station operators catering for niche tastes who should be licensed, but never will because they just don't fit the profile of a station owner demanded by the regulators.

It is very unfortunate, but until those in power change their attitude, I wouldn't insult the intelligence of pirate radio by asking them to obey a law that is hugely unjust, undemocratic and unlikely to change in the near future.

Unlike you, I don't believe in the hard and fast rule that all laws are there to be obeyed 100%. What's that saying? Oh yeah, the law's an ass. It is in this instance and doesn't deserve to be obeyed.

You are entitled to your opinion, but I think your're right, we should agree to disagree on this one.

Dearg doom, Same ole same ole personal abuse, just remember you're the one resorting to name calling then calling me the 15 year old - Hypocritically condescending, typical ignorance - what you'd expect, sorry 'i'd' expect from the law abiding do gooders. I thought I might get a backlash for that last post, but I expected it, predicted it even, see, thats how predictable you are. When you get your own ideas and thoughts and develop them yourself, come back then and put your point across, until then go back to bed, your government is in control! "Let not the pirates braodcast for they do not what the government want, let us hear britney spears and westlife on our radios, for bland spiritless soulless cheesy music is a good example to set for our children and help them evolve into intelligent loving caring human beings" Now, to the bomb raid shelter!

Radio Mad, we're pretty much in agreement on this one. Theres a first!

Awwnly me, its a real shame you had to re-enter the debate at this time. Its been an interesting one.

Oh yeah, why do you think that I'm a 'law abiding do-gooder'? I'll have you know I've broken several laws in my time, including (gasp!) parts of the Wireless Telegraphy Act!

As for abuse, well you're the poster that referred to several other board users as 'capitalist c##ts!". Despite the fact that the radio system you advocate is a capitalist one. Mmm. Curious.

As for the precious pirates you seem to love so much - hate to tell you pal, but you'll never meet more cut-throat capitalists than on the pirate scene!

You predicted a response? Ask a silly question, get a silly answer.

Heres an awwnly me classic. "let us hear britney spears and westlife on our radios, for bland spiritless soulless cheesy music is a good example to set for our children and help them evolve into intelligent loving caring human beings"

I don't care what they listen to so long as they have a slightly more open outlook on life than you. And thanks for the parenting advice. I'm sure all the parents on this board were unsure on how to raise children until your words of wisdom.

Either way, I recommend to the other board users to just ignore you. You have yet to contribute a single useful comment to any debate on this board. Certainly, I doubt I'll be responding to any more of your diatribes.

I'm a peaceful man though - and I reckon that I can get EVERYBODY involved in this debate to agree on one point.

What about...

the BCI/IRTC are an outdated institution...they were modelled on the IBA, a body that even the Brits had dismantled in the late 1980's and that we do need more diversity in broadcasting.

Firstly suppose you're living in Germany in 1938 and you know of some Jews hiding out in your neighbourhood. Do you like a good law abiding citizen go and inform the Gestapo or do you break the law and help them out

OK I admit the example is an extreme one but it underlies the point SOMETIMES IT IS RIGHT TO BREAK THE LAW

Secondly is there a single man woman or child in this country who can honestly stand on a stack of Bibles (or Korans or whatever) and say they've NEVER broken the law. You show me such a person and I will show you A SELF DELUSIONAL (or ill informed) HYPOCRITE.

Thirdly (as ive said many times before) if we all shut up and obeyed the law and waited for "the democratic process" to give us what we want we would still have only one radio station in Ireland broadcasting for 5-6 hours per day and not really serving anyone. (come to think of it women still wouldn't have the vote and the penal laws would still be in force and we would still be part of the UK and paying the poll tax and.....)

Time and time again I have read the opinions of my Anorak colleagues arguing their points with quotes like,

"Broadcasting is a privelage, not a right" and "Whether you agree with it or not the law is the law" and "These people are only doing their jobs".

Within getting into a massive speel, quoting laws, by-laws and sub-sections let me make a few brief points;

As regards the law being the law, laws can be, and in a lot of cases are made to suit a select group. Look at the large number of laws which have had to be altered or abolished because they amounted to little more than discrimination or a breach of human rights. Am I to believe that the law as it stands is one hundred percent pure, correct and undiscriminatary?

On the subject of these people only doing their jobs, how can any member of the public feel confident when itt transpires that the law-makers are the law-breakers. e.g. Gardai corruption in Donegal, with members of the force being charged with everything from robbery, falsification, crimes of a sexual nature and who hasn`t heard about the McBrearty case?

Next we`ll be reading that although you may not have agreed with the actions of the Taliban against the people of Afghanistan, the law is the law and they were just enforcing it.

Finally........ If broadcasting is a "Privelage" then the abilty of a "Privelaged" person of group to sell a franchise could certainly not be correct as the ability to buy "Privelages" is tantamount to corruption.......

ADMIN please sort out this site. It is a disgrace. Like virtually everybody here the password is virtually impossible to remember that we received on signing up and many of us rely on cookies in the computer to remember the password. However it seems that when I go to post a new topic it won't even remember that password anymore. I have had enough

I am out of here until something is done with this board. I can't even post this topic in a relevant thread!!!!! See you all at radiowaves.fm's message board.

I think this board has great potential and I really hate to see it go downhill. It has virtually dried up.

Look at the activity on radiowaves.fm and look at all the regular contributors to this board that have vanished

no local bands being played. This is anti competitive and really insulting to the people of Cork by the BCI. They also sold off the station now we believe to UTV or at least some of it.

We have had to endure a station of Hit and Memories for years while our radio station gave us the two fingers. RTE broadcast for about 6 hours a day at one stage and they played very little local music either. Chorus the Cable Channel are allowed to Broadcast while they are not broadcasting local television.

Most of the politicians are afraid to open their mouth in case they won't get on the air the next election.

We are planning a march next year with a public meeting because we are really fed up with this. It has come to the stage that IMRO are giving out awards called fairplay for Airplay if these station would honour us with an Irish show.

Where is the justice we ask if our own culture and music is kept off the air in place of the money grabbers of this country. This is on the same par as our language being taken years ago.

Can someone help me with a bit of history? I seem to recall when licences were first handed out by the IRTC there was a Cork City and a Cork County licence. Over the years, the two (presumably separate licensees) seem to have been assimilated into one, serving the whole of the county and city with the same prog (with the exception of a few opt-outs) from two virtually identical networks of transmitters. How have they managed to pull this off? In the UK, the Radio Authority would almost certainly have rapped a few knuckles and probably taken one of the licenses off them to give to another operator offering choice and diversity to the listenership.

Personally its the only station apart from Nova worth listening to anymore.

MAD FM could be good with a bit more thought put into the line-up and playlist but then again, the reception is terrible and impossible to listen to without going totally insane!

Nova's reception seems to have gotten worse too, shame when the DJ's and choice of music is often worth listening to even with the hissing.

Energy seems to be one constant string of ad's for one nightclub or the other. You get three songs and then the 2.5 mins approx of ad's. I'm aware a station needs funding but it does do your head in after a while!

Hot is same as ever ...... but in fairness there is a huge amount of talent.

Now how did my comment on Kiss FM turn into a run-down on pirate radio in Dublin? pardon my meandering!

I stumbled upon a very interesting site today, so I just thought I´d post the address here. A lot of the info on it is fairly well known to most of you, but to anyone starting out, it could be helpful in trying to understand it all. One thing though, the stations it mentions are all Dutch, but the tec info is still there.

hi,i know nowt bout radio gear, so where do i get a 40w+ transmitter & dipole antenna in ireland?? and how hard will the pigs come down on me when i broadcast up here in donegal???? thanx lads & ladies

I don't mean to sound high and mighty bout newbies in radio and they have every right to seek help on this board but as this person admitted he knows nothin about radio I personally think that these new guy/gals often throw them selfs in at the deep in and need to be very careful in pickin freqencies where they will not cause interence if this people don't get help they are a danger to them selves and to other pirate operations in the area as if they are causing interence it's liable to bring down the men in the tweed suits yes the odtr. this is just a personal thought nothing against the person who posted the notice but i'm interested on what other people especially other pirates think about this point as i said these people deserve the help and should get it the message above though is a prime example the person admits it them selfs i think a pirate with not enough no how is a very dangers thing

up here in Donegal after today fm on 101.5 there are no radio stations, so from 101.5 to 108 is totally free, so i wont interfere if i broadcast on, say... 106, will i? yes or no? aswell as that i cannot interfear with other pirates because the simply are no pirates in donegal!!!! but i take your point, u cant have people without the knowhow setting up equipment all over the place.Thats why im here, every1 starts somewhere, right?

Many regular posters on this board are familiar with my opposition to the current pirates. Lately, however, my position has softened somewhat, thanks largely to some intelligent arguements by certain individuals. Sadly, the comment above serves to reinforce my belief that pirate radio is increasingly becoming a vehicle for subversion.

The Squire epitomizes all that is wrong with the "new breed" of illegal broadcasters.

Broadcasting is not a right, it is a privilege. Your transmissions have the potential to affect the lives of those they reach, this is a major responsibility and I firmly believe that any person who will publicly refer to law enforcement officials as "pigs" is unfit to handle such responsibility. If you know nothing about the technical or moral issues of the medium I suggest you educate yourself on the matter before attempting to enter the field.

Scott has a good point. Not wanting to sound patronising (or worse like a DTI press release) but transmitters are not to be messed about with if you dont know what you're doing.

Just because a frequency appears clear doesn't mean you can use it without causing interference. For instance if you have two strong signals 10.7 MHz apart they can combine and wipe everything out.

Its surprising how many people dont realise this.

My advice to any newbies setting up is to either READ A LOT OF TECHNICAL BOOKS and/or to seek help and advice from experienced people.

For my part I've advised and helped people out people before and have always been happy to do this

Oh and I wouldn't call them "pigs" either. Sure you (or I) may disagree with a lot of the laws they have to enforce but at the end of the day they're only doing their job and the people who employ them are really to blame

up here in donegal after today fm on 101.5 there are no radio stations, so from 101.5 to 108 is totally free,so i wont interfear if i broadcast on, say... 106, will i? yes or no? aswell as that i cannot interfear with other pirates because the simply are no pirates in donegal!!!! but i take your point, u cant have people without the knowhow setting up equipment all over the place.Thats why im here, every1 starts somewhere, right?

I'm gald that offence hasn't been taken by my post firstly i can't comment on weather or not to use 106 just cos there is nothin above it that is in the 88-108 range you gotta consider any possible harmonics e.g 212 mhz things like this do need to be considered as well honestly have you informed your self about such occurrences also any possible intermod has to be looked into but possibly to a lesser extent depending on the area these are the kinda of factors you need to take into consideration when pickin freq's maybe you should consider gettin a smaller rig to gain some experience with say 5 or 10 watts it may sound like nothing but if you know what your doing what 5 or 10 watts you'll be surprised the results you'll get.

Also trimmer pointed out the existence of ACCESS FM it's little pieces of info like this that have to researched and looked into it doesn't take to much to find out either what stations are where there are sites with uptodate info on em. Also I Agree with Irish Mike "Broadcasting is not a right, it is a privilege" this it certainly is

however what your views on the law enforcement in Ireland are, are your views, "i may not agree with your views, but i'll defend to the death your right to speak them" pirate radio is about freedom yes but again it crops up that freedom comes with great responsibility and it's your job to educate yourself as regards calling them "pigs" if you think thats ok thats your choice but i can't condone it or recommend you do it on air as these people are just doin there job like you or i do our jobs after all they have a right to a decent standard of living as well do they not? some one please correct me if I'm wrong what i would recommend is going for a lower power and using the money you didn't spend on the extra wattage on educating your self spend it on books (mainly bout the tech side of radio) and maybe just maybe if you've got some left over put it into decent audio equipment but don't skimp on the education for the sake of the audio after all knowledge is power and is handy to!!!

Mike has the jist of what i was saying though "transmitters are not to be messed about with if you dont know what youre doing."

again i welcome all comments and furthering of my ideas on this topic and i'm not out to offend or annoy anyone

Scott Taylor's last post is, without doubt, one of the most intelligent, well thought out, common sense posts I have ever seen on this board. Scott is right, the Gardai and ODTR are merely doing their job. If you choose to contravene the broadcasting act of 1988, for whatever reason, you must accept that those who are appointed (whether elected or employed) to uphold the law will do all in their power to find you and close you down, as they should. Whatever views you have on particular government policies you must surely agree that a government which makes no effort to enforce the law is far more dangerous than one which upholds it.

Scott's attitude is the sort of thinking which the pirate community needs if it is to have any chance of a fair hearing.

thanks for the comments and this is the view i'm trying to share with pirates like my self with some success i mean the law is there as you said and its up to the person at the end of the day weather or not to break it

The following question really looks for advice moreso than a definite answer as I'm sure lots of people will have different opinions.

Here goes, I ran a pirate station for approx 2 years on a 24/7 basis. There were only 4 of us involved altogether but we managed to keep it going nonetheless. It started kind of as a hopeful project with big dreams but without any expectations as we didn't yet know the full extent of the workload involved. Over time, the station grew and became successful. At the 2 year stage though, it began to feel like we'd come to a dead end in some ways. It felt like the programming wasn't good enough anymore. I suppose it became boring in a way. But the people loved the music and we still had the passion for radio so we didn't want to stop.

The problem was that we had started very small and grew a bit, but we didn't really know how to expand the station to its full potential. We faced fears of our gear being robbed if we brought in new people and the studio location becoming known publicly which would leave ourselves open to similar problems. Also, new people coming in would probably demand payment in some form or another and since we didn't advertise, we couldn't give it. Lots of things stood in our way from giving our station what it deserved.

So the question is - if a small pirate station like this is lucky enough to become popular and grab itself a place in the market, what is the best way forward or 'the next step' in making the station a formidable opponent to those legal stations?

Thanks for your time,

by the way, I researched the whole technical side of things for 2 years before getting any sort of gear. Pity I didn't research what was needed from a business point of view!

If you mean how to make the station grow as a successful business then I'm afraid the only answer is to generate revenue through advertising, probably not the answer you wanted but, sadly, the truth.

On the other hand if you want your station to grow in terms of the service and entertainment it provides then the opportunities are limited only by your imagination! I assume you get calls from your listeners, sk them what they like about the station and, more importantly, what they don't like. Since there are only four of you involved and no one is paid you are obviously a close knit, committed team. I suggest you sit down and look at what you all do, then discuss ways you can improve the things that already feature on the station.

One final thing though, why do you feel the station needs to change/progress? Is it because listeners are getting bored with your output or because you're feeling like you're in a rut? If listeners are still tuning in and the station is still growing I would suggest that, for the moment at least, things are going fine and there's no need to change simply for the sake of changing. You know what they say about things not being broke!

Have heard CLUB FM is coming back on air very soon. I have heard Glenn Kelly is fed up with superstar ( NOT ) DJ Frank Kennedys eegoo and the ****e commercial that energy and Hot (Frank Kennedy) fm play.

ah - you're not the infamous friend of Glen who lived in Glens house and knew everything about Glen but weren't him just a friend of Glen are you? (friend of Pedro is more like it).

Lets hope that if Club ever make a comeback that their management have learnt the basics on how to be decent members of the human race. More tunes and less firebombs and threats against rivals if you know what I mean.

SpinFM, with the backing of the likes of Louis Walsh will never be a decent dance station.(FACT) No matter how hard the ODTR and IRTC try to kill off the pirates one-by-one, There will always be pirate radio!! And as everyone knows, the most profitable radio station, is the most popular radio station. At the moment,(and for a long time) Energy has proved to be "The Biggest And Best Dance Station In Dublin" for the simple fact that it caters for everyone, not just the select few scobes(99.4) and that is what is going to give SpinFM a run for their money. It is unfair for the ODTR to try to take the competition out by shutting down the pirates. As everyone knows, competition is good for everyone, and my feelings is that anybody out there that is involved in radio or wants to set-up..... GO FOR IT!!!! 2002 is a good time to try, even if You don't succeed until 3002, Take on the ODTR, IRTC, and any dance station in Dublin. WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOOSE??????

Yes Dan. been there, done that , wore the t-shirt . I was one of those so called innocent parties that Mr Kelly took advantage of. He cares only for money and has no real interest in radio. There were some great djs on Club all the same in the early days; Latin Wolfe. Davy Kaye, Jason Dee and Club FMs answer to Mr Motivater on the brekkie show; sounded a bit like Wicked!!!! Anyway , let's hope Mr Kelly has smartened up his act a bit and lets hear some decent radio!!!!

In radio terms, my wish list for the New Year includes the long awaited return of Premier FM, a Gem FM with signal strength and audio quality like it used to be and a good quality Irish Talk radio station.

What's yours?

This topic is also running in 'legal radio'. You might make your views known there.

I was in Dublin on new years eve, shopping!!! Thats not my story! I as always when driving up the motorway did a band scan and as usual for some reason when I listen to pirates found myself listening mainly to Freedom, I have to pay the greatest compliment to Freedom and Simon Davis for an excellent Top 100 of 2001, It was a first class programme and outstripped any of the countdowns I heard on Other stations (including some nationals), I have said it before and will say it again, Why is Simon Davis not working in a legal station on a primetime Gig?

I am bemused at the lack of praise for Freedom and others pirates who worked over the christmas, Although I am not a pirate broadcaster I have no problem in praising pirates when I think it is deserved!

The Audio on 94.1 is literally sexual. Fair enough, it is hard to get at times, but so are some of the legals. It all depends on where You are at the time. Some of the pirates such as Phantom, Nova and freedom should widen their broadcast instead of just one side of the city (phantom, nova..... Northside only)Thy have a lot of potential, but need to do just a little more!!! Hot99.4 has a tendency to drift an awful lot and needs to do a lot more with their audio (new optimod????) to achieve a decent audio signal. (getting rid of Mr. Kennedy would be a start!!)

Mmmmm... audio, Paul Long, I admire your interest but I cannot accept your prognosis on legal station's audio - each of the legal stations have different audio and different good points and bad points!

FM104 - have to have the worst audio on the band.

Why? - very heavy compression, little dynamic range, whoever adjusted their Omnia has left them deficient in certain EQ bands with the result that their audio sounds slimy and harsh. It makes every aspect of their programming sound bad from commercials to music. Dave Kelly, Andi Matthews and everyone else working in 104 will swear that their audio is the best but this only demonstrates their ineptness in this area.

98FM - have the best audio on the band in Dublin. FM104 used to hold this accolade (much to the chagrin of Peter Gibney) - but BTS convinced them that they needed to replace their 8100A and buy an Omnia. 98 sounds fresh, clean and warm as well as punchy and they score my number 1.

Lite FM - Awful. 2nd worst to 104. Lite has its moments, but their insistence on finding 'any other processor than an Optimod' has led them to use firstly an Omnia and now an Aphex 2nd rate processor. I don't understand their decision. Lite have dreadful problems with their Microphones and certain pieces of audio. Listen out carefully for the distinctive warbling on their audio at nighttime - either the guy who burned the original MP3's or the dodgy soundcard - it sounds terrible. Lite frequently wanders into distortion and the "greats" at Lite seem oblivious to it.

2FM - Optimod. Can sound great sometimes but some lunatic has set up dayparts so that its settings change by the hour.

Otherwise, I think Energy sound good (although not over the last two weeks), Sun FM sound quite good, and Phantom sounds LOUD but not necessarily good. I have always thought that Freedom sounded adequate but never 'amazing' - despite Sean Power working in BTS - maybe Joe & Peter sold him an Omnia!! I believe he gets good commission on them

I could be wrong here, but I was under the impression that 98FM used an Orban 8200 (the older digital one). If I remember correctly, they installed around the same time as the move to the Malt House (in fact it sounded very dubious for a few weeks during the move - new processing together with a move to minidisc for playout). From what I know the Optimod is fed by an old Orban Co-operator (theres a number of them still in studio at the Malt House!).

I could be wrong here, but I was under the impression that 98FM used an Orban 8200 (the older digital one). If I remember correctly, they installed around the same time as the move to the Malt House (in fact it sounded very dubious for a few weeks during the move - new processing together with a move to minidisc for playout). From what I know the Optimod is fed by an old Orban Co-operator (theres a number of them still in studio at the Malt House!).

I have to agree with the contributor above that quite often Lite FM's audio is nothing less than dreadful. Even people such as me, ignorant of the finer minutiae of machinery such as optimods and processors, will appreciate a stations inferior audio output by simply listening to the radio.

you're correct about 98 using an Optimod 8200 - the digital version they brought out in the early 90's. I meant that Gibney had convinced 104 to buy an Omnia and that was why they sounded so terrible. I remember seeing their 8200 in Mount St. around '93 so they have had it for some time. they also use an Orban Co-operator to pre-process their audio before they link as the 8200 is now at 3 Rock.

[quote]

I could be wrong here, but I was under the impression that 98FM used an Orban 8200 (the older digital one). If I remember correctly, they installed around the same time as the move to the Malt House (in fact it sounded very dubious for a few weeks during the move - new processing together with a move to minidisc for playout). From what I know the Optimod is fed by an old Orban Co-operator (theres a number of them still in studio at the Malt House!).

Zee100, what's the status of this station. Website was opened, closed, opened again and now closed again. Is this station going on air or what ?? What are your thoughts about this so-called radio station ??

Just a short note , to say that we at club fm will be improving our audio and signal coverage as soon as possible. We are at present having some aerial problems and other minor things and we will have them sorted soon.

We will also be going live soon , so hang in there and enjoy the non stop dance music

This probably belongs in legal radio but hey! I've always liked Brian, sometimes he's not as funny as he thinks he is but we're probably all guilty of that! He sounds really at home on 98 and he and Claire give the impression that the actually like one another.

I'm assuming that 98 have no plans to replace Mark Byrne. Is this a cost cutting exercise? Surely John Taylor must have enough tapes on his desk to find someone who's up to the gig.

I don't care how anyone feels about 104 at the moment, it is BLATENT copy of a show and a sad reflection of how 98FM can be so petty at times...

With all the red tape entrepreneurs experience with getting a broadcast licence, you'd think there'd be a watchdog body in place to give a station a slap on the wrist for this type of thing. If nothing else, it limits the choice of shows and creates even more blandness in what we have to put up with, on an already short list of legal stations...

If it is a genuine ignorant error, shows you how big-headed 98 have gotten, not listening to the opposition, right across the dial.

Couldn't care less how the Jam does either and if 104 had copied 98 in this way, I'd be saying the same thing regarding them but this is just ridiculous!!